Description

The Yak-1B is a Rank II Soviet fighter with a battle rating of 3.3 (AB/SB) and 3.0 (RB)). It was in the game since the start of the Open Beta Test prior to Update 1.29.

The standard armament for most Yakovlev aircraft: One machine gun and one ShVak cannon; with 200 and 120 rounds each, nothing out of the ordinary. Good against aircraft, but against anything bigger the burst-mass is lacking for quick take-downs.

The improved Yak-1 features, like most mid war water-cooled fighters, a 1140 hp engine. It remains sub par to the German equivalent. However, at the time this plane was fielded most enemy vehicles were of heavier weight, further increasing the Yak series excellent maneuverability. Unfortunately, in-game the aircraft is tiered with earlier vehicles, this shifts the performance spectrum of the Yak-1B towards engine power.

Suspended armament

Usage in the battles

Information for Arcade Battles,

The Yak-1B is simply an upgraded Yak-1... the main features being much improved cockpit visibility (useful if you like to fly "in-cockpit"), slightly better durability, and a slightly more resilient engine that, unfortunately, still overheats quickly. However, the beauty of the Yakovlev line of fighters lies in two things:

Their biggest problem is engine overheating, but this is easily fixed by simply flying between 80%-90% throttle.

The Yak's performance is not hindered in the slightest by flying at this engine power.

Due to the above two facts, in AB: just fly at 90% power. The Yaks can dogfight just fine at 90%, and will rarely overheat. Even though in Arcade battles all planes get WEP, the WEP on this plane adds almost nothing to it's performance while rapidly overheating the engine, thus using WEP is almost completely unnecessary... if you need more power, go up from 90% to 100% throttle. Remember to go back down to 90% once you can.

Wait for the dogfight to start, then fly in behind a distracted enemy. Shoot in bursts unless tailing a bomber, in which case you will not last very long against their rear gunners unless you are extremely accurate with the cannon. If your engine begins to overheat, start flying back to your airfield. Otherwise, your engine will give out after the temperature gauge turns red.

To sum up, this is simply a better version of the Yak-1, with similar tactics and strategy. Just remember that Soviet fighters in general count heavily on it's pilot's accuracy... having, in this case, only one worthwhile gun!

Information for Realistic Battles,

Take off at 100% throttle, then go to 90% after getting above the trees. Upon reaching around 500 m, go to 80-85% throttle. Stay low at all costs! If you climb above 1000 m, four things will happen:

1) You will have run your engine out trying to climb, so your engine has less time before it overheats than usual. (You also don't climb as fast as most other planes...there are better Soviet aircraft for climbing, such as the MiG-3 and the La-5).

2) You will be highly visible.

3) You will have reduced maneuverability.

4) You will easily rip your wings upon trying to dive (The Yak's wings, being made of wood, disappear at about 600 kph).

If you stay below 1000 m, then you will have more advantages than the enemy, such as:

5) You can trick enemies into flying into the ground (just make sure you don't do so yourself!).

Right before entering a dogfight, bring your throttle to 90%... in Realistic Battles this is enough to fight at below 1000 m (some experienced Yak pilots dogfight at 80% sometimes!). Immediately after fighting, bring the throttle back down to 80% (if you don't already have it there). Only in extreme cases use 100% power... it is rarely needed and overheats the engine quickly.

Firing at ground targets is highly advised against, as you already have limited ammo to fight other planes with. Remember that you do not reload in mid-air in RB, so conserve your ammo and close the distance with the enemy before firing, and then fire in short bursts. The great thing about the Yak's guns is that they are center-line mounted. This means that you do not have to worry about convergence points... just lead the target and snipe. The drawback is that you cannot spray the target with a hail of bullets like most players tend to do. This plane, and all the Yaks afterwards, are all about accuracy and skill... with an agile plane and that hard-hitting cannon (that all non-Soviet pilots complain about) to compensate for the lack of ammo. The MG is almost a joke, and is useful only when your cannon has run out (you use the MG as protection on the way back to the airfield).

When landing, slow to BELOW 300 kph before lowering your landing gear! Many Yak pilots have ripped their fragile landing gear when coming in too fast. The last thing all Yak pilots should know in Realistic Battles, is to never climb higher than 3000 m (at or below 1000 m is preferred). The Yak line of fighters was not built to fight at the higher altitudes, and the game is filled with much more capable aircraft in this respect. If you like B&Z or you prefer to climb high, but don't want to use US or German planes, then use the MiG line or the LaGG/La line of fighters, as they have much better engines. The Yak is a dog-fighter.

Tips from the Aces

A Yak pilot can nullify all but the last "Cons" below by staying below 2000 m, and keeping the throttle at 90% for AB, and 85% for RB/SB.

If the situation allows, using in-cockpit view can often help with accuracy due to no parallax effect... meaning (hopefully) less of your precious shots wasted.

Flaps help with hard turns, but against most opponents they aren't needed too much. Use flaps wisely, since flying at ~90% means a tiny bit less engine power to get back to speed after slowing down due to using flaps. However, don't hesitate to use flaps if the fight depends on it... it is easier to regain speed than to pay for a new plane!

Everything learned from the Yak-1B applies to all of the later Yaks... mastering this plane will repay itself in gold later.

Specific enemies worth noting

A6M2 Zeroes: They will out turn you, so try to attack in a shallow dive rather than a turn fight. Energy fighting is also okay because the Zero has very bad energy retention and very bad high-speed control and handling.

P-47Ds: They are much faster than you and are excellent at boom and zoom, so avoid them if possible. If you are caught in a fight, try to energy fight them or turn fight them.

Other Yakovlevs: They are slightly slower, so either keep them occupied with maneuvers such as the scissors and barrel rolls or energy fight them.

Spitfires: They are significantly slower but has a turn radius that could embarrass a Zero, and their Hispano cannons are significantly more deadly than you ShVAK cannon. Try to energy fight them as that can overcome your worse maneuverability. Boom & Zoom is also an option in arcade battles, but never try to turn fight a Spitfire.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements

Mixer

Pitch

Radiator

Supercharger

Turbocharger

Oil

Water

Type

Controllable

Not controllable

Not controllable

Not controllable

Separate

Not ontrollable

Not controllable

Modules

Tier

Flight performance

Survivability

Weaponry

I

Fuselage Repair

Radiator

Offensive 12 mm

II

Compressor

Airframe

New 12 mm MGs

BI-42

III

Wings Repair

Engine

Offensive 20 mm

IV

Cover

New 20 mm Cannons

With the Yak line of fighters, Always research the engine and performance modules first! This will help to lower the overheating of the engine. Afterwards, the aircraft modules can be unlocked in any order according to pilot preference. The Survivability modules are recommended next, as they improve the Yak-1b's maneuverability and survivability even more. The Armament modules improve only by adding ammo belt types available, but also allows the usage of 100 kg of bombs.

Pros and cons

Pros:

Good speed.

Good structural strength.

Hard hitting and accurate 20 mm ShVAK cannon.

Good rate of climb at low alt.

Cons:

No WEP in RB/SB.

Water and Oil overheats quickly.

Low dive speed limit.

Poor performance above 5000 m altitude.

Low ammo count makes this plane reliant on accuracy.

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,